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Security report for rowingnews.com

Rowing News · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Rowing News is a niche media outlet specializing in rowing sports news and related content, operating since 1994. The website offers subscription plans including print, digital, and combined options, targeting rowing enthusiasts and sports fans. The business model relies on exclusive content access via subscriptions. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a modern Newspaper theme, utilizing SEO plugins and paywall technology. It employs common web technologies such as jQuery, Google Fonts, and Google Tag Manager for analytics. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS and bot protection via reCAPTCHA, but lacks explicit security headers and privacy compliance documentation. The absence of WHOIS registration data raises concerns about domain legitimacy, impacting overall trust. No WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, and the site content is safe for general audiences.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…
  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching rowingnews.com

This scan found 26 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
42
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
59

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention rowingnews.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
4
Employees
0
Customers
4
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

2 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for rowingnews.com.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Rowing News occupies a specialized segment in the sports media industry, focusing exclusively on rowing. Its competitive advantage lies in its long-standing presence since 1994 and offering subscription-based exclusive content. Revenue streams are primarily from subscription plans with clear pricing tiers. The target customers are rowing athletes, fans, and clubs. The site integrates advertising via Broadstreet Ads and marketing tools like Constant Contact. Social media presence on Facebook and Twitter supports community engagement. The lack of visible company registration or contact details limits transparency. Growth potential depends on expanding digital subscriptions and enhancing privacy compliance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with enforced HTTPS and use of Google reCAPTCHA to mitigate automated abuse. However, it lacks visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options, which are recommended best practices. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The absence of a published security policy or incident response contacts indicates gaps in compliance and readiness. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security posture is adequate but requires improvements to meet higher standards and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance and user consent mechanisms.
  3. Provide explicit contact information for security incidents and data protection officer details to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to comply with standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Rowing News
Description
Since 1994
Key services
News articles, Subscription plans (Print, Digital, Print + Digital), Regatta calendar, Exclusive articles
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO Premium, jQuery, Wallkit paywall plugin, Broadstreet Ads, Google Fonts, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Tag Manager
Frameworks
WordPress Newspaper Theme
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager), Gauges
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Broadstreet Ads
Tracking pixels
Gauges
Marketing tools
Constant Contact
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a niche media outlet focused on rowing news and subscription content.
  2. Content is accessible and well-structured with subscription paywall implemented.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected.
  4. No clear contact information or security incident contacts found.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  6. WHOIS data missing or domain unregistered, which is a critical trust concern.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site fully accessible.
  8. Advertising and tracking scripts present but limited to known providers.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS using the Newspaper theme and several plugins including Yoast SEO Premium and Wallkit for paywall functionality. It uses jQuery and Google Fonts for frontend rendering and styling. Advertising is managed via Broadstreet Ads, and analytics are implemented through Google Tag Manager and Gauges. The site is mobile responsive with good SEO metadata and structured data (JSON-LD) for articles and organization. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. No hosting provider details were found. The technical stack is modern but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and privacy compliance features.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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